The reviewing and verifications must start with those FTs that are currently employed in govt and stat board.
And even those teaching in the university polytechnics.
Those that are caught with fake should be caned and jailed
杀一儆百
14 July 2015
In the financial industry, being found to have lied on a curriculum vitae can cost more than just a lost job, it can also mean a lengthy ban from the markets. In the first such case in the territory, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) on Monday banned a former Bank Julius Baer & Co. banker for three years after she was found to have lied about her academic credentials in order to secure the job at Bank Julius Baer.
The SFC said Laura Kiang Mang Yi was banned from the market until July 12, 2018. The lengthy ban reflected the fact that Kiang not only made false claims about her education, she also ordered a forged document to support her academic claims. The regulator said a clear message needed to be sent to the market that deceiving an employer by way of a false statement and forged document was not acceptable.
The regulator said Kiang moved to Bank Julius Baer in mid-2013 as an account manager. She was previously employed by Merrill Lynch. As part of her move the Swiss bank ordered a background check on her by an external investigator. His investigation found that while Kiang had been enrolled at New York University, she never did obtain the Master of Arts degree in Educational Psychology that she claimed in her CV to have obtained in May 2008.
When confronted by HR about the investigator's findings, Kiang confirmed that she had graduated but claimed she had lost her graduation certificate. In a state of panic, she subsequently engaged a diploma company to produce a forged NYU diploma to back up her claim. When this was found to be a forgery, she eventually confessed to supplying false claims and a forged document. She would later claim to the SFC that she acted out of "pride and panic" after being confronted by the new employer about her academic credentials.
The case shows the importance the regulator places on accountability and honesty in licensed representatives in Hong Kong. By deliberately lying about her credentials, Kiang was in breach of the Code of Conduct and undermining her fitness and propriety to be a licensed person in the territory.
"It is imperative that regulated persons demonstrate sound character and reliability," the SFC said in its Statement of Disciplinary Action. "Misrepresenting one’s educational qualification and producing a forged degree certificate to an employer are plainly dishonest and call into question his/her character, reliability and fitness and properness to be a regulated person."
Digging down
Kiang on several occasions had a chance to come clean. The external investigator's report, issued on June 10, 2013, said that she did not receive the Master's degree she alleged to have. On July 9, she met with HR and compliance and was confronted with the findings, but insisted they were wrong. She was then asked to request a new certificate from the university. Over the months from July to September, she ordered and later submitted the forged document. Meanwhile, the external investigator confirmed with the university that the document was a forgery. When she still insisted that she had indeed graduated, the HR department eventually had to deal with the university directly. It was told on October 28 that she had not graduated from the university and that the document was a forgery. A week later, she confessed and was dismissed by the bank.
During the SFC's subsequent investigation, she would claim that she thought she had graduated because she had finished all her courses and attended the graduation ceremony. In fact, she was still missing 3 credits to graduate.
"It was plainly dishonest for Kiang to lie to her employer about her education qualification and to provide a forged diploma as proof of a university degree which she had not obtained," the SFC said. "We consider her conduct to be intentional and was done with the deliberate intent to deceive her employer for the purpose of securing her employment."